June - Mehefin ☀️
Penblwydd hapus i fi! Elin, Pride 2026 🌈
Daw hyfryd fis Mehefin cyn bo hir…!
What a month. A month with a big barometer of heat overseeing the proceedings - welcome to Costa del Caerdydd…!
This month I also celebrated a whole other year of my 40s - and got to do so at Pride Cymru. Marching with my kid’s school with other families and the teachers was an absolute highlight - a scorching hot day surrounded by love and colour.
Tying-the-knot: a castle, a heatwave - and a surprise guest
The headline of my month was of course: Kate and Nick's wedding. A castle ceremony, a harp playing Calon Lan & Sosban Fach, a Celtic handfasting, a gorgeous story of love and metal across the globe, a “priodas coes ysgub” starting with a broom (more on that later!) - and the hottest week of the year (decade?!).
There were a few surprises along the way that I can't go into in full (celebrant privilege!), but I will say this: I found myself conducting a ceremony in front of someone who is, to put it mildly, very famous. World-famous, in fact. And afterwards, they told me they loved it. Still grinning!
Kate and Nick were absolutely wonderful - and I’m buzzing every time I think about that day.
They were very clear that they wanted a wedding ceremony rooted in Wales and Welshness - and we designed something that was utterly bespoke.
The guests learnt some Welsh along the way - and they made a full weekend of it by carrying on the celebrations at the Stadium’s Metallica gig the next day - with “Nothing Else Matters” dedicated just to them in front of 70,000+ fans…
We had all the drama - Bride lost her voice the morning of the wedding. Taxis didn't arrive on time. The castle walls were literally shaking from a concert soundcheck on the green just outside - and miraculously the noise stopped just in time for our ceremony. And the heat (have I mentioned the heat?!) - fans for all the guests, a gorgeous touch from Kate and Nick. Ah - it was just lush.
The qualifications I nearly forgot to mention
In amongst all of that - I nearly forgot that June was also the month that I qualified as a funeral celebrant!
I have learnt so much from this course. Funerals are different from weddings of course - the stakes feel different - but to be honest, celebrations are still at the heart of it - honouring and being thankful for a life. It’s about holding a moment, a space, finding the right words.
I’m so proud of this one - I really wasn’t sure if it was “for me” when I started the course - but what really surprised me was being asked to deliver a Celebration of Life when I was only mid way through my training - I clicked with the family almost instantly, I felt like I could see exactly the kind of ceremony they wanted - and it was really humbling getting to hear all the stories about their wonderful person - who sounded like a true icon who deserved to be celebrated and then some.
And also in training news - I’ve also been diligently training with the brilliant Glenda Proctor - the “Queen of Handfasting” - this year - and this month I completed my handfasting and handtying training.
Just in time for Kate and Nick’s wedding too - so much to say about this fab Celtic tradition I’ll save it for another post!
Roll on Mis Gorffennaf…
July is going to be a bit different. I'm starting a short public affairs consultancy contract - completely outside of celebrancy - which means juggling two quite different professional identities. I think this change of scene will breathe new energy into things on the celebrancy side too - and if anything, you’ll find me at Amgueddfa Cymru (the National Museum of Wales) for a few weeks (yep - the one with the dinosaurs!).
There's another wedding on the horizon in August that I'm really looking forward to over in west Wales - putting the finishing touches on what’s going to be a beaut of a ceremony (reveals to come…!)
And I've got a lot of content from a recent styled shoot that I've still yet to share - including some beautiful footage from a gin unity ceremony that I think is going to appeal….
Oh - and I went for my eye test. Guess who’s getting new glasses in July…! Watch this specs-space… 🤓
